Munkustrap
by R Reich
Summary: Munkustrap, the cat unlucky in love. Part 5: Sacrifice and Divine Sanction. Munkustrap finds out who the mysterious queen is and the Jellicle divinity intervenes.
1. Part 1: Demeter's Folly

**Title:** Munkustrap  
**Fandom:** CATS  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Summary:** Munkustrap, the cat unlucky in love.   
**Disclaimer:** CATS belongs to the Really Useful Co. Andromea, her history, the facets of her history and what she is, et al are all from my imagination. Meow.   
**A/N:** Oh, the angst! Yes, I'd previously posted this, but it needed to be pulled down and given a thorough tweaking before I was happy with it again. So consider it tweaked! :) I hope to try and finish it this time, but unfortunately I can't see it being written too quickly because of Real Life commitments. But, cross your fingers. ;)  
  
**Munkustrap  
  
Part One: Demeter's Folly**  
  
He watched her in adoration as she carefully preened the lush tiger-striped fur covering her flank. He felt truly blessed to be able to call this beautiful queen his own. More than one tom would have tried to take her away from him had he not held the position in the tribe that he did.   
  
She looked up at him from her washing and gave him a strangely uncomfortable smile that didn't light up her green eyes as her smile normally would. His curiosity piqued, he rose to his feet and stretched, before padding over to where she was sprawled. 'Demeter? Is everything okay, love?' he asked as he went to touch her cheek with his paw. He started in surprise as she turned her face away from him, deliberately pulling back from his affection. 'Dem?'   
  
Demeter turned back to face him, reluctant to meet his concerned eyes. 'Munkustrap,' she said in clipped tones, sliding her gaze from his to stare vaguely at the wall of their den. 'We... we need to talk.'   
  
Munkustrap cocked his head to the side. 'That sounds awfully serious,' he said lightly, trying to gently tease a real smile out of her. Her eyes flicked to his and then away again as she tightened her lips. 'It is.'   
  
He went to place his arm around her shoulders but she shrugged away. His jaw dropped in stunned surprise - she'd never rejected his embrace before. 'What is it?' he asked anxiously. 'Tell me what's wrong, Dem. Is it something I've done-?'   
  
'No! No, it's not you, Munku,' she said in a strained tone. 'It's me.' She hesitated again, closing her eyes. 'I - I'm leaving.'   
  
He sat back on his haunches in shock. 'You - you're leaving? But...' he shook his head as if to shake loose his thoughts. 'Leaving where?'   
  
'I'm leaving the tribe.' She finally opened her eyes and raised her gaze to look at him steadily, holding up one paw when he opened his mouth to protest. 'Please, Munkustrap, don't say it. I don't want you to leave the tribe - I don't want you to come with me. You _couldn't_ come with me, even if you were not important to the survival of the tribe. And they need you here, anyway. You're their Protector. I'm leaving you, the tribe, _everyone_. I'm leaving to be with-' she licked her lips nervously, '-to be with Macavity.'   
  
He reeled back from the queen in shock. 'No!' The word exploded from the grey mackerel tabby's mouth. '_No_! I won't have it!' She couldn't do this to him! _How_ could she leave to be with - with _him_? And after all the tribe had suffered at the paws of Macavity, too!   
  
'Tell me you're lying Demeter, tell me that this is just a cruel joke,' he begged, taking one of her paws between his.   
  
She looked down at their paws, shaking her head slowly, and when she raised her face her eyes were glazed over with sadness for having to hurt him. 'I'm not lying, Munku - it's true. I know you won't believe me in this but I love him. I _do_. We have a history that goes beyond all that _you_ know, from the days when I was apart from the tribe. Please don't make this any harder for me, dear. Please let me do this. Please let me go.'   
  
Let go? She wanted him to let go of her, let go of all the dreams they had shared and everything they had been through together since they were kittens, through their separation and consequential reuniting, to get where they were today... for something she had only just told him? 'How can I let you go?' he objected. 'You're my whole world.'   
  
She placed a paw on either side of his face, drawing it down and placing her lips against his forehead. 'Oh, Munku, I'm not your whole world. This tribe is your world. And _protecting_ the tribe is your world.'   
  
'Are you saying I spend too much time away from you? I can change that, Demmie, I can,' he said feverishly, clinging to her. 'I'll delegate some of my responsibilities! I'll make Tugger pick up some of the load! The Everlasting Cat knows it's about time he shouldered some responsibility. Anything to make you stay with me,' the words were tumbling over themselves in the rush to get past his lips. 'I can change, I swear I can! I never meant to neglect you-'   
  
She placed her paw over his mouth to stem the frantic tide. 'You have never neglected me! You are the perfect mate any queen could hope, even dream of. And if it were not for my past with Macavity,' he recoiled, his paws falling away from her as she said the name of the Hidden Paw once more, 'I would be only too happy to stay here with you. To love you. Except-'   
  
'Except you don't love me,' he said dully, 'because I was not a good enough mate for you.'   
  
Her eyes filled with tears. 'You _were_,' she whispered. 'I did love you - I _do_ love you... I just - it's... it's not enough. I have to let you go, don't you see? I have to let _you_ go so you can find a queen who will love you with all her heart. Not just part of it.'   
  
'I would settle for just a part of your heart, if you let me.'   
  
His wounded, pleading, _needing_ tone cut deeply. 'And I would hate myself forever for not loving you with my all as you deserve to be loved. I know you think you love me-'   
  
'I _do_ love you. More than anything.'   
  
She flinched but continued. '...But it _will_ pass. I promise you it will, my dear. There will be other queens, other loves... you'll move on. You'll find real love.'   
  
He had pulled back from her, his face buried in his paws. She reached out to place her arms around his shoulders, and he jerked away. 'When do you leave?' he asked, his voiced muffled and roughened from grief.   
  
She hesitated before swallowing apprehensively. 'Tonight.'   
  
Still reeling from her betrayal, Munkustrap leapt to his feet. He suddenly knew what he had to do - how he could prove to her how much he loved her. 'I won't let you,' he said defiantly, as he swung between fury at her abruptness and chilling fear that she was really going to leave him. 'I _won't_ let you leave to be with him. Not him of all cats! He doesn't deserve you. He could never love you like I do! He doesn't know _how_ to love, Demeter. He'll just... just use and abuse you and when you try to return to the tribe you'll _still_ be outcast as the Jellicle who left to become the mate of the Hidden Paw!' the last was said at a shout.   
  
Demeter stood, nose to nose with her - now-former - mate. 'Macavity does love me. I know you find it hard to believe that your outcast brother could _possibly_ love anyone, but he loves me. And you know what, Munkustrap?' her voice was terrible in its sadness, and he averted his face from her. 'He even loves _you_ still - for all that you've turned on him.' She looked at him for a long moment, waiting for him to turn back to her but when he didn't she too turned away and headed gracefully for the flap of sacking that covered the doorway to the den they shared together.   
  
Demeter paused in the doorway and glanced back over her shoulder at Munkustrap. He was watching her now, and in a detached fashion he noted how beautiful she looked, with her fur all fluffed and lit up into a golden halo by the afternoon sunlight that streamed into the den from the doorway behind her. 'Please don't try to stop me. Macavity... he said that he would show you no mercy if you tried to interfere. And I do love you very much - the last thing I ever want to see is you hurt.'   
  
'Then please don't leave, Dem, for you hurt me so much now with this declaration you make,' he whispered around the lump of pain that had congealed in his chest. 'Please stay with me, Demmie, stay here where you belong. Please...' He held out his paws to her imploringly.   
  
She shook her head. He was so strong and proud, and it broke her heart to see him begging like this for her when she knew it wouldn't - _couldn't_ - change anything. 'No,' she replied softly. 'I can't. And when I leave, I'm not returning, Munkustrap. Ever.' The very den seemed charged with the same static-like electricity that filled the air as before a lightning strike as she spoke. Munkustrap raised his paw sharply as if he could physically halt her next words, his breath caught in his throat.   
  
Demeter didn't notice his raised paw or the build-up of energy. 'I will never return to the Junkyard, Munkustrap.' At her declaration the static dispersed with a sharp crack. It was not a light undertaking for a cat to make a vow such as that. The magic of cats meant that such a vow would be binding for life. Demeter suddenly looked scared. She hadn't meant to utter anything as powerful as a vow.   
  
Munkustrap stared at his beloved Demeter with echoed fear. She had vowed... she had _vowed_! He slowly shook his head, still denying the pain that tore through him. 'No, no, Dem, you can still stay, you don't have to leave! Stay with me please, oh for love of the Everlasting Cat, please don't leave me, Dem,' he implored, taking a step toward her. 'If you don't leave the vow cannot bind you.'   
  
Demeter shook her head, for even as she had said it, she knew she couldn't stay and she knew wouldn't be able to return - not now that she had forever sowed the seeds of doubt in Munkustrap's mind. 'I'm sorry, Munku,' she said softly before turning and leaving their den forever.   
  
'No, Demmie, oh please no,' he moaned, falling to his knees on their bed. He could still smell her musky scent on the tattered pillowcase, taunting him. 'Oh no, don't leave for him, no...' he curled up into a ball and wept, his paws covering his face, his famed strength completely gone. 'Oh Demeter...'   
  
It was quite some time later when he shakily rose to his feet, palming the moisture out of his red-rimmed eyes. He couldn't let his brother-tom take her away. Did she prefer the Hidden Paw because he was a better fighter and far more cunning than Munkustrap? Or was it because he had something Munku didn't? Well, if it was as simple as Macavity being a better, more ruthless fighter then he would prove them _both_ wrong.   
  
He would prove that he was worthy of Demeter and her love. He would take back the only mate he had ever truly loved more than he loved life.   
  
_Macavity_. He was the embodiment of evil as far as Munkustrap was concerned. Everything that was good in a Jellicle had been twisted into a gruesome parody within the body of one evil, thieving tom. And now Macavity had proved that he _was_ the biggest thief of all by stealing the one thing his very own brother cared about more than life itself. Oh, how that cat would laugh at this, the greatest of all thefts.   
  
No. He couldn't let his brother-tom finally win out over him.   
  
For if he did it would prove what Munkustrap had always believed about himself right from kittenhood - that when it came down to it, in comparison with his brothers, Munkustrap fell far short of the benchmark they set.   
  
He felt his weakness deep in his bones as he groomed away the marks of his grief off his face.   
  
Tonight. Demeter had said she was leaving that very night - which meant that Macavity was going to make an incursion into the Junkyard to claim her from him. He would have to - there was no way known the Hidden Paw would be able to resist showing off to the whole tribe that he had once more bested their 'fearless' Protector. Well, Munkustrap would stop him. He would prove to Demeter that he would fight for her with tooth and claw. He rose and stretched his aching body, his scattered thoughts turning to tactics. It would be a hard task to defeat Macavity in a one on one fight, but he knew that he had to succeed or he would lose Demeter forever.   
  
Padding silently from the den that now held only painful memories for him, Munkustrap headed stealthily for the lookout. From there he could keep an eye on the den of Bombalurina where he knew Demeter would be, the two queens as thick as thieves.   
  
He would see when she left to greet her new paramour, and then he would make his move.   
  
Other Jellicles moved easily through the Junkyard on careless missions of their own - from where he sat, Munkustrap could see Mistoffelees entertaining several enthralled kittens with a trick involving a yard of brightly coloured cotton, a small ball of red yarn and a rusty tin. Across the other side of the Junkyard the Rum Tum Tugger sunned himself in his usual spot, several of the younger Jellicle queens peering over a scrap of iron at him, before hiding and giggling. It was quite clear by the smirk on his face the arrogant tom knew he was being admired and was happy to oblige the young queens with a sinuous, lethargic stretch. Munkustrap couldn't even muster an eye roll for his brother's obvious behaviour.   
  
There was no movement from Bombalurina's den, however in his heart Munkustrap knew that this was where his Demeter was hiding. And it broke that selfsame heart to know that she was hiding from him.   
  
Nightfall gradually threw its inky wings of darkness across the Junkyard, cloud-shrouded darkness pierced easily by Jellicle eyes. Hunger gnawed at him. Voices drifted on the air from down below where his fellow tribe-members were singing and cavorting around in glee, unbeknownst of the drama that was about to unfold in their midst.   
  
Far in the distance the clock tower chimed two, and at the mouth of Bombalurina's den there was faint movement.   
  
Through the gloom, Munkustrap could see his Demeter creeping out of her sister-queens' den, heading towards a shadowy alcove. He gasped when he saw the unmistakable silhouette that was Macavity. _It was all true!_ Part of him had wished, hoped, yearned...   
  
'No,' he whispered, pained. 'This cannot be. I will not allow it.'   
  
He rose to his feet and carefully and silently picked his way down towards the two cats. When he was less than ten metres away from the pair, Macavity whirled around, tense.   
  
'So, Munkustrap, you seek to stop this?' he hissed malevolently. The hair on Munkustrap's back crawled at his brother's hateful tone.   
  
'I do,' Munkustrap said firmly, flexing his claws.   
  
'Demeter-' Munkustrap's skin crawled at the sound of his love's name on the lips of his brother and it was this moment that the silver tabby truly knew loathing for the first time, '-_did_ tell you I would have no mercy on you?'   
  
'She did.' Munkustrap's gaze strayed to Demeter, who stood with her head bowed, yet one paw willingly held in Macavity's possessive grasp. She stood close to the filthy and unkempt red tom, every shred of her being clearly submitted to Macavity's will.   
  
'So be it.'   
  
Macavity dropped Demeter's paw and gently pushed her back out of the way before falling into a combat crouch, his wiry body taut. Munkustrap matched his brother's pose, his tail lashing furiously. With a snarl he flung himself at his brother, slashing down viciously with his claws, raking them across his brother's back as the red tom dived under Munkustrap's arm to gouge at his side.   
  
There were alarmed cries as Jellicles poured out into the open at the sound of the fight. Jennyanydots gave a sharp cry at the sight of Demeter cowering by a junk heap and scurried over to her. 'Demeter, you can't stay here! Quick, run! Munkustrap will stop Macavity!' Jenny tugged on the black and gold queen's arm.   
  
Demeter shook her head, suddenly angry at the presumption that she should still be terrified of the cat she now loved. 'No!' she snapped, as she jerked her arm from Jenny's grasp. 'I do what I want to do, Jenny, and none of you can stop me!' She was reckless, torn between terror for her new mate and her former mate, terrified too by the vow she had spoken that day, and full of fear for what the future might hold if everything went wrong. 'Macavity _will win_.'   
  
The Gumbie Cat drew back in surprise. 'Well!' she said in a huff, before letting out a shriek and scampering out of the way as the two fighting toms rolled right through the space she had been standing in.   
  
Munkustrap was bleeding heavily from several deep wounds on his flanks and around his white face, yet had managed to score just as many injuries on his brother who the Jellicles knew was the superior fighter because he was wicked enough to fight dishonourably and dirty. Munkustrap refused to back off, recklessly closing in even as Macavity's claws shredded more fur. With a muffled cry, he sank his teeth into the wiry tom's neck, with one set of claws buried in Macavity's face and the other in his shoulder even as the red tom brought his hind paws up and began to gouge deep, vicious wounds into Munkustrap's stomach. Panicking at this new menace, Munkustrap tried to disengage and pull away from Macavity, blood streaming from the fresh wounds.   
  
He succeeded in pulling loose and barely managed a step before his legs buckled and he fell to the ground in a pitiful heap of bloodied fur, twitching momentarily before stilling.   
  
Macavity drew himself up and sneered at the other Jellicles, ignoring the blood that dripped from his own wounds. 'Is there anyone else who wishes stop me from leaving with this queen?' he pointed grandly at Demeter who was dividing horrified glances between her bleeding new mate, her former tribe and the body of Munkustrap who lay without stirring at Macavity's feet.   
  
The other Jellicles shifted and muttered, angered by the sight of poor Munkustrap. No one dared to go near, for Macavity was standing over him, a conquering victor.   
  
A smaller black and white tom stalked towards Macavity, baring his teeth in a hiss, but was halted by Jennyanydots' ringing voice.   
  
'No, Alonzo! Let him take her,' she hissed and at her words an agitated rumble went through the gathered cats. 'She _wanted_ him to beat Munkustrap - she _wants_ to go with him! She - she _wanted _Munkustrap dead!' Alonzo jerked his head around to look at Demeter with horrified eyes.  
  
'No! I didn't want him dead!' Demeter sobbed, her beautiful voice choked with tears. 'I didn't want them to fight at all!' She looked pleadingly at her former tribe. 'Believe me,' she whispered, 'the last thing I wished was for hurt to come to Munkustrap.'   
  
No one spoke. No one even moved.   
  
'If you've finished, I'd like to leave and take my queen back to her real home,' said Macavity.   
  
'Let her go,' Jenny spat. 'She deserves him.'   
  
'But he killed Munkustrap!' said Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat, stepping forward. 'Can we let _that_ go unpunished?'   
  
An agreeing noise rose from the Jellicles.  
  
'So? Who will challenge me? Who thinks _they_ can defeat me and avenge their noble Protector?' Macavity retorted. '_You_, old tom?' He snorted. 'You couldn't fight your way out of a paper bag.'  
  
At his provoking words there was challenging snarl from the top of the Junkyard watchtower. The Jellicles all turned as one to see who the newcomer was.   
  



	2. Part 2: The Andromea Strain

**Part Two: The Andromea Strain**  
  
A streak of black and silver charged down from the tower, and curiously, just before the blur reached the arrogant red tom he flew backwards through the air, his breath whooshing from his lungs as if he had just been hit by Skimbleshanks' train. There was a gasp of surprise from the gathered cats. Jellylorum glanced sharply at Mistoffelees but he shook his head and raised his paws in confusion - he had nothing to do with it.   
  
Misto stared intently at the new cat as it attacked Macavity and his eyes widened. Somehow, while fighting, the newcomer seemed to be utilising a form of magic! They were somehow able to maul the Hidden Paw regardless of how quick he moved to elude the other's claws. The newcomer was much of a size with the fallen Munkustrap - albeit slimmer - and appeared to have strength to match Macavity's. Yet this new cat was unmistakably a queen for all her tom-like frame.   
  
And she seemed to be very familiar to Mistoffelees. He just couldn't quite figure out why and it fretted at him. He knew it would be important that he remember who she was!   
  
A flash of silver claws was quickly sullied by blood as she raked her claws over the wounds on Macavity's shoulder previously opened up by Munkustrap. He retaliated sharply and soon the new queen was bleeding freely from several wounds. Eventually Macavity fell back, hissing, clutching at his shoulder.   
  
She stood protectively over the body of Munkustrap. 'Begone, Macavity, Hidden Paw! You cannot defeat the whole tribe!' she spat. Macavity tensed as if to resume his attack, but her assault, combined with the wounds administered by Munkustrap, had proven costly to the Mystery Cat. With a howl of humiliated rage, he snatched up Demeter and bolted from the Junkyard.   
  
The Junkyard was unnaturally silent, but for the panting of the new queen as the Jellicles stared at her and each other, aghast, hardly able to believe what had just happened. Then the murmuring started up.  
  
The queen, beautiful even with her fur matted red with blood, nosed gently at the pathetic heap of fur that was Munkustrap. She had black fur, the very tip of each strand of hair frosted with silver unbestowed by age. Her short muzzle and the long hairs on her ears matched the tips of her fur and midnight black outlined her eyes. Macavity's claws had taken their toll on her for she had been very bold in her attack, yet she paid little heed to the wounds on her own body as she focussed all her attention on the lifeless tom before her. Jellicles crowded in closely, anxious around the body of their fallen Protector. 'Get back,' the new queen hissed. 'Get back and give me room!'  
  
There was a breathless pause before they eased back, the muttering growing louder.   
  
'You, kitten,' she gestured towards snow-white Victoria. The kit crept forward, her legs quaking with combined fear and excitement at being singled out by this mysterious queen. 'Do you know where his den is?'   
  
Victoria nodded and pointed. 'Up there,' she squeaked nervously.   
  
'You can lead me there. You, what is your name?' the queen asked of a brown and white tom with a curious brown patch of fur around his right eye.   
  
'Tumblebrutus, ma'am,' he blurted and ducked his head in embarrassment.  
  
'And you, who are you?' She now gestured to Alonzo who told her his name, his head held up proudly. He wasn't going to show his intimidation in front of her. Not even when the life of his closet friend hung in the balance.  
  
'You two help me carry him to his den,' she ordered and with Alonzo and Tumblebrutus assisting her, they managed to carry the bloodied body up to the den, little Victoria leading the way. The rest of the tribe who was present gathered at the foot of the junk heap, as if scared to tempt her wrath by following.   
  
Once they had lain Munkustrap down on his bed the queen turned to Tumble and Alonzo. She dismissed Alonzo summarily, ignoring his offended look, commanding him to send in Victoria as he left. Her raised paw forestalled his objections that he could remain and help, and she then turned her attention to cataloguing Munkustrap's extensive wounds. He snarled silently and stalked out.  
  
Victoria crept in silently in his wake, her eyes wide as her gaze darted between Munkustrap and the queen.  
  
'Kitten, fetch me some water and clean cloth so I can bathe his wounds.' Victoria nodded obediently and bounded out of the den. 'Tumblebrutus, I want you to stand guard over this den. _No other cat_ than Victoria is allowed to enter unless I permit it.'   
  
Trying not to display any astonishment at her presumptive orders, Tumble gave a sharp nod and backed towards the den door before blurting in a breathless tone, 'Ma'am, can I ask... who _are_ you?'   
  
The queen smiled tiredly. 'I am Andromea.'   
  
'Andromea,' the tom carefully said the name to commit it to memory. He hesitated once again before asking, 'Munkustrap... he is alive isn't he?'   
  
She nodded and blinked slowly. 'Just.' A quiet sigh.  
  
'Will he survive?' Tumblebrutus bit his lip, uncertain he wanted to hear the answer.   
  
Outside the den Victoria listened by the doorway, her mission temporarily forgotten as she held her breath in anticipation of the stranger queen's answer. She had almost cried out with happiness when she had heard that the grey tabby still lived but now to find out whether Munkustrap could recover from his horrendous wounds... She would then have something substantial to share with the other Jellicles - and Alonzo - who looked up in her direction and that of the still doorway to Munkustrap's den.   
  
'Should he survive the rest of this night and tomorrow, he should live,' she heard the queen called Andromea say tiredly. Victoria sagged against a broken table in relief - she was too young to realise that his survival hinged on him actually lasting out the night and following day - before remembering the mission she had been sent on and quickly bounding away, even as she saw Alonzo evade Jellyorum's grip and bound up the heap towards her, the intent to question clear on his face. She couldn't afford to get caught up by anyone now that she had already delayed long enough. She squeezed through a tangle of wire and out of sight.   
  
'Let me know when Victoria returns,' Andromea said. Tumblebrutus nodded and backed out of the den, suddenly wondering how the queen had known Victoria's name when she hadn't known his.   
  
Andromea turned to Munkustrap and sighed, gently touching his scratched and bleeding face with one gentle paw. What she saw before her was the face of a cat who had suffered needless pain at the paws of a queen that cared naught but for her own pleasures. She had watched the battle unfold right from the beginning, initially uncertain whether to interfere. It was only when a life hung in the balance that she had been forced to act, or betray her ethos. Andromea began to tenderly groom away the dried blood that caked the fur of his face, cleaning the lighter scratches as best she could.   
  
A short while later there was a scuffling tap at the door. 'It's the kitten back, ma'am,' she heard Tumblebrutus say, the tom still sounding nervously formal. Andromea rose to her feet, padding down to the door to take the small half-full bottle of water Victoria had engaged Tumble in to help her carry up the junk heap and the shreds of clean cloth the kitten bore.   
  
'Thank you,' she said, gently touching the kitten on the head. 'I have one last request for you, Victoria.'   
  
Victoria sat up straight. She was itching to tell the other Jellicles all she had heard rather than the brief snatches she had been able to blurt out as she searched for items the queen had requested, yet one more mission she couldn't possibly say no to. Anything to do with this queen would increase her standing with the other kittens - no, all the other Jellicles, adult or not - and to be seen as the messenger of this most mysterious queen named Andromea...   
  
'There is a tom here called Mistoffelees?' The sentence was more than a statement, yet not quite a question.   
  
Victoria nodded excitedly. 'Yes, ma'am. He's my brother-tom.'   
  
At her ebullient announcement Andromea smiled a wistful smile and lightly touched the kit's face again. 'I would like for you to fetch him here for me at his convenience, if you would, Victoria. Thank you for your help, both of you. And tell Alonzo I am grateful to him too - I didn't mean to be quite so blunt with him. Tumble, when Mistoffelees arrives you will be able to leave - he will see to it that you need not stay.'   
  
The tom started at her affectionate shortening of his name and bobbed his head in assent. 'Yes ma'am!'  
  
'Now go,' the queen shooed Victoria, who lingered a moment, towards the door of the den with her paws. Even before the two Jellicles had left the den she had turned back to the wounded tom.   
  
Victoria bounded down the junk heap even as Jellicles gathered around her excitedly.   
  
'What happened? What did she say? Who is she? What is she doing to Munkustrap?' Questions assailed her from all sides. 'Does he still live?' This last anxious question was directed at her by Bombalurina, concern etched on her elegant features. The queen was suffering dearly, feeling that she too shouldered some of the blame for what had happened. If only she had tried to talk Demeter out of leaving…  
  
Victoria stopped. 'Munkustrap will survive,' she said, full of kittenish self-importance endowed by being the holder of more information than her compatriots. 'Her name is Andromea and she is looking after him. Now if you'll let me go, I must go and see Misto!' She eluded the rest of the tribe and dodged down towards the den Mistoffelees used when he was away from his Humans.   
  
'Misto?' she called, pausing in the doorway, listening intently.   
  
'In here, Victoria,' she heard his voice call back to her. She wriggled down the small tunnel into the comfortable hollow. Her brother-tom, the magical Mister Mistoffelees, was sitting on the scruffy woollen sheepskin blanket, a pondering look on his small black and white face. 'Have you heard any news of Munkustrap from the strange queen?'   
  
'Andromea says Munkustrap will live an' she wants to see you as soon as possible!' Victoria blurted.   
  
At her words the small tom started abruptly. 'Did you say _Andromea_?' he gasped, stunned.   
  
Victoria nodded enthusiastically, unaware of the effect of her words on her brother. 'That's the queen's name!' Suddenly she became aware of the queer look that crossed her brother's face. 'Misto? Are you okay?'   
  
Suddenly smiling, the badly shaken tom nodded. 'Andromea... My sister-queen!'   
  
'Sis... sister-queen? She's our _sister_?' It was the kitten's turn to be shocked.   
  
Mistoffelees nodded slowly. 'That she is, dear one. She is my full-blood sister, and your half-blood.'   
  
'What? How?' Just as the Jellicles had demanded answers of her, she demanded the same from her brother.   
  
'It's been such a long time,' Mistoffelees said, the fey tom oblivious to her questions, lost in some distant memory. 'And if there is anyone who can heal Munkustrap, Andra can. She's a healer-cat.'   
  
Victoria blinked. 'A what?'   
  
'A healer-cat.' Mistoffelees' voice took on a dreamy quality as he recited words learnt at his mother-queen's paw. 'A long time ago there was a queen, not a Jellicle, but a queen from a far distant tribe who was known as Queen Andromea. She was the first of all healer-cats, and the one from whom all the others descend. From her comes what is known as the Andromea Strain - those who breed true to the strain are healer-cats just like the original Queen. My sister - _our_ sister bred true to the strain born in the blood our father - and she is known as a True-blood. Any cats who breed but partially to the strain are ones such as I. Magical but without exceptional healing skills... we are known as Half-bloods.'   
  
Misto sighed. 'Our father left us when we were newly born, only returning once to fetch Andromea when she was old enough to take away - where to, I don't know. We were half your age when our father-tom took her away and I have not seen her since now. Nor have I seen our brother, another Half-blood, who disappeared shortly before our mother-queen was to bring us to become Jellicles. As an Andromean, our father-tom did his duty by his bloodline and passed on the strain, fathering a litter of kittens bearing a True-blood as his sworn duty obliged him to - had Andra not been, he would have stayed with us until our mother bore true. However some oath has it that once the strain breeds true the Andromean must leave, even though he was supposedly matched with our mother by the healer council themselves.' Mistoffelees' voice took on a sad but wondering tone. 'I never found out why it was so that he had to leave. I would have liked to know my father...'   
  
Victoria listened in spellbound silence. She had never known that she had two, older half-siblings. She had never known there was something called the Andromea Strain, which was what gave Mistoffelees his magical powers. And she never knew wasn't as related to her brother as she had thought... she suddenly felt like crying - the inevitable come down after the excitement. Her disappointment was clear on her face and Misto spoke up. 'Vicki, you might not share the same father-tom I, but for all that our mother-queen was the same cat! We are still brother and sister - don't look so worried!' He chucked her affectionately under the chin. 'You are still my sister!'   
  
Reassured, the snow-white kitten gave a tremulous smile. 'Why haven't we been taught about these healer-cats? How come there has never been stories of one coming to the Junkyard?'   
  
'It's a history not of this area - our mother bade me never speak of the Andromea Strain unless a healer-cat _did _come to the Junkyard. I never suspected that when it happened it would be my very own sister! As for why there has never been one here to speak of... they are a separate, solitary type of cat, their oaths allowing for minimal contact with other cats unless they are doing their duty by healing.' Misto stood, shaking himself as if to shudder off lethargy. 'I had wondered at the way she was using magic when fighting Macavity-' the name was said with a hiss, '-and now I know!'   
  
Following her brother from his cosy little den, Victoria posed a question that had started to bother her as soon as she had found out about the origin of her brother-tom's power. 'If this is so then, Misto, does that mean that Macavity has An-Andromean blood too? I mean, he has some magic powers...'   
  
'No,' Mistoffelees' voice came back to her. 'Those carrying the Andromea Strain are not the only ones with power... Macavity - he is something else.'   
  
'Oh...' Victoria sat on her haunches to think about that before suddenly realising that Mistoffelees had disappeared and scampered after him.   
  
Mistoffelees paused for a moment and glanced up at the lair that housed Munkustrap, the flap of material that was the door guarded astutely by Tumblebrutus, who was pacing back and forth, shooing off curious Jellicle kittens who didn't know better than to disturb the healing going on beyond the curtain.   
  
He leapt lightly onto the back of an old car, carefully picking his way around the holes that had been eaten into the metal by encroaching rust and glanced back at his little sister. Upon her emergence from the snug hole of his den she had been once again beset by her fellow kittens, their young voices soaring purely into the night air as they pleaded with her for more information, _more_! He had to smile - she'd adore all this attention.   
  
Turning, Mistoffelees continued to make his way up to the den Munkustrap had taken up permanent residence in when he had run away from his Humans. One too many children abusing him had finally shattered his monumental patience like a china vase. It had been a good den for him, in a prime location, the den warmed by the sun that streamed in the doorway during the afternoon and a snug sheepskin rug and old pillow case creating a nest big enough for him and his queen - former queen, Misto corrected himself - to curl up together on.   
  
'Mistoffelees!' Tumblebrutus said gladly as he spied the conjuring cat coming towards him. 'I'm so glad you're here! These kittens... I don't know how to keep them away!' For all the relief in Tumble's tone, he didn't raise his voice to disturb Andromea working inside the den.   
  
Misto gave him an amused look. 'I'll deal with it,' he said, and so he did, concentrating on using his powers to imbue the area in front of the den with a repelling aura.   
  
Almost straight away Tumble's fur fluffed up, his spine shuddering in a most uncomfortable fashion. His eyes widened. 'Thanks... I think... I'll go now!' he exclaimed and bounded off, the disturbing sensations easing as soon as he turned away from the den.   
  
With a soft laugh at Tumblebrutus' swift departure, Mistoffelees nosed aside the cloth doorway and peered in. 'Andromea?' he called. There was movement deep within the nest, and his keen ears detected the minute sound of someone fighting back tears. 'Andra?' he repeated, alarmed, this time hurrying into the den.   
  
His eyes quickly adjusted from the orange street lamp-lit darkness of the Junkyard outside to the absolute blackness within the den.   
  
He saw the familiar form of Munkustrap laying limp on the bedding, his chest barely moving and his fur damp with water from where Andromea had cleaned his wounds and fresh blood that oozed from deep wounds the healer-cat had fought ineffectually, it seemed, to heal. Looking at the gouges in Munkustrap's flesh Misto gagged, and he pressed his paw against his mouth for a moment. By Munkustrap's side was the huddled form of Andromea, a bloodied cloth held forgotten in her paw as she buried her face in the crook of her elbow, fighting back tears.   
  
'Andra? What's wrong?' Mistoffelees asked softly, reaching out to place his paw on his sister-queen's shuddering shoulder. 'You said he would live... you said... oh, Andra...' Realisation dawned in his bright eyes and his breath caught sharply in his throat.   
  
'Misto!' Andromea wailed, throwing her arms around her long missed brother. 'He's so badly hurt I don't think I can save him! And if I can't, he is going to _die_!'   
  



	3. Part 3: The Magical Mistoffelees

**Part Three: The Magical Mistoffelees**  
  
Mistoffelees looked at the cat in his arms, his very own sister-queen who, when they had been but kittens, had declared that she would be the best of all the healer-cats that had ever been born. And it certainly seemed that with her confidence it was to be her destiny right from the beginning. Andromea had been able to heal all sorts of wounds and scrapes that both he and their brother-tom had been able to get themselves into. Mistoffelees' most vivid memory being of the day a disused drain near their nest had collapsed under him and he had fallen, spraining his front paw and several ribs. Andromea had placed her paws on him, first on the sprained paw and then on his ribs. With their brother soothing Mistoffelees, the healer-cat-to-be had taken the pain away and then knitted the broken bones with her own magical powers, seemingly at little expense to her own energy.   
  
Misto had to admit that he held his sister-queen in considerable awe since that day, and genuinely believed that there was no wound she could not heal.   
  
He patted her shoulder soothingly with one paw, his mind racing. 'Shh, it'll be all right, you'll be able to heal him - I know you will!' As she drew back, mindlessly dabbing at her tear-damp fur with a clean patch of material on the bloodied rag she held he said impulsively, 'Is their any way I can help you - can you use _my_ magic in any way?'   
  
Andromea cocked her head, looking at him askance. 'I - I don't know,' she said, her voice still catching as she tried to regain breath lost sobbing. 'There is one way we were told of but...' she trailed off doubtfully. 'We were warned against using it at this time - we were sent from the enclave to practice our craft and learn the intricacies of healing... sort of like a journeycat-ship before we achieved our Mastery. If I - I - you might be able to help me with that. But - well, it's just that I never expected to find myself facing anything like this... maybe what we were told of would work for him.' Andromea made a futile gesture at the wounded Jellicle. 'If I dared...'  
  
'Then dare to do it? If it will save him?' Misto sensed in her what he thought was the reluctance to share craft secrets and he respected her too much to push her into revealing what she could not. 'If there is any way I can help, I will,' he repeated firmly.   
  
'Thank you for your offer Misto, but I... I still don't know if I _can_.' She bit her lip. 'We're not supposed to-'  
  
Frustrated, Mistoffelees let the stress of what had happened push him into an uncharacteristic outburst of anger. 'And if you don't try he'll die anyway! Andra, how could you let him... let him _die_ without doing every single thing you could possibly do to try and save him? The kitten I knew was never so selfishas to refuse to help any cat in pain! Damn the rules! If there is _something_ you can do - whether you're _allowed_ to or not - why won't you do it? Munkustrap is too important to the tribe to just - just let him go without trying everything possible to save him. _Help_ him Andra!' the last was a heartfelt plea.   
  
She seemed to recoil from him, shrinking in upon herself so that she no longer looked like the tom-sized queen she was. His frustrated anger cut at her deeply and even though she knew the anger was not so much directed at her but at circumstance it still hurt. It was her choice to make, but because it was he who asked her, she would do it without any more hesitation.   
  
Andromea bit her lip. She had already admitted that she didn't know if she could save Munkustrap. He wasn't in a remotely stable condition, and there was no chance whatsoever that he would heal from this on his own. He was dying, of that there was no doubt. Yet... could she tell Mistoffelees that performing this kind of healing could very well be at the expense of her _own_ life as well as Munkustrap, should she fail? No, she couldn't do that - and she couldn't let him down either. Him, nor the other Jellicles of his tribe who had been assured, she knew, by the words of her kitten half-sister who had listened at the door. No, she felt enough guilt for the empty years that had passed since she had last seen him, she couldn't fail him this. She owed it to him through more than just their shared magical blood.  
  
And not only could she not fail Mistoffelees and the Jellicle Tribe, but her calling, her own vow as a kitten, and she had to admit, her own pride did not - no, _would_ not - permit her to fail the cat who was injured. She could not fail the one who needed her the most.   
  
'I will do it,' she said firmly, with a nod, looking down at the cat she was going to risk her life for. 'I will do what it takes to save him.'   
  
It suddenly came to her that this wouldn't be the first time she had placed the silver tabby's life over hers - after all she had challenged the Hidden Paw to save him, and no cat could possibly make such a challenge without taking their life into their own paws.   
  
'Munkustrap,' she said his name softly, placing her paws on the dying tom's temples. At first Misto thought she was just repeating his name to commit it to memory, but as she continued to repeat his name in that same softly entreating tone Mistoffelees realised that she was in actual fact _calling_ to the unconscious cat. Her quicksilver eyes slowly drooped shut as she continued to call to Munkustrap, her voice becoming softer and softer until it was barely on the threshold of hearing.   
  
Misto found himself holding his breath as he sensed the energy gathering in the air. It crackled along his fur and tzinged his whiskers, and when he thought the pressure would become to much to bear he saw Munkustrap twitch sharply, a faint and mournful whimper torn from his bloodied lips.   
  
He started as his sister-queen, her body taut, echoed the soft cry of pain as she knelt over the silver tabby. Strain was etched into her features as she fought a battle with Death that he would never bear witness to. He had offered her his strength to use as she could but in reality he didn't know what possible help he could be. He had never been taught to heal like this - never been taught anything beyond the rudiments of flesh wound healing, which was the most his powers could handle. No, this was something _more_ - this was spiritual healing too. What a fool he was to offer to help in something he knew naught of!   
  
Mistoffelees gasped as he noticed that some of the minor wounds that covered the tom's body were gradually knitting, healing from within, the torn flesh slowly pulling together to leave angry pink scars that slowly faded to white even as he watched.   
  
Shudders wracked his sister-queen as she continued her work, the strain of her healing evident in the way the tendons on her arms stood out and the way her paws trembled as if their grasp on the injured cat was intensely tight. But Mistoffelees knew there was no pressure in Andromea's grip, for there was no shift in the hair on Munkustrap's temples, nor were there any indentations left in his flesh.   
  
Suddenly Misto gaped as he realised just how she was healing Munkustrap as yet another wound opened on her flesh, fresh blood matting her fur to join that from the wounds Macavity had inflicted on her firsthand.   
  
'No!' he cried, lunging and shouldering her away from Munkustrap. It didn't take a magical genius to see what was going to happen to her if she kept on the way she was going. The reason behind her earlier reluctance suddenly became clear to the Mistoffelees. 'Don't do it, Andra!'   
  
As soon as Andromea's grasp was loosened from the wounded cat, she broke out of the trance that had enveloped her, falling to the side and gasping for breath. 'What did you do that for?' she snarled weakly, hissing and batting his helping paws away when he moved to assist her to her feet. 'I was doing as you asked!'   
  
'Not at the expense of your own life!' Mistoffelees choked out. He pressed his paws to his mouth, suppressing the urge to gag.  
  
Andromea sighed. 'I will be all right.' She had to lie to him, she couldn't do anything else. She didn't think he would understand the real truth of it, or why she had to do go on. 'It cannot kill me!'   
  
Misto wrung his paws. Was she telling the truth? Was she lying? Had he halted a crucial healing process for no reason? 'Andra - if you're lying to me-'   
  
'I'm not,' she lied again, flawlessly, in a tired voice. She couldn't let Mistoffelees know he had hit the nail of the truth right on the head, either. 'You must let me continue, for now the healing link between us has been forged, and if left as it is there is no doubt he _will_ die - and I with him.'   
  
Gulping, Misto nodded. 'How can I help?' he blurted. If she was able to use his magical powers to supplement her own...   
  
She gave him a faint smile. 'Just don't waste your time directing your energy into me - if you're going to channel do it directly into Munkustrap for I will not have the energy to then move it on to him.'   
  
'But I don't know what to do!' Mistoffelees protested, frustrated this time at himself and what he felt to be his own personal failure.   
  
Andromea's paw came around and impacted with his cheek sharply - it wasn't a slap, just a firm pat - and as soon as her pads touched him he felt what could only be considered akin to the electrical shock he had received the first time he had really used his magic. And at that touch his mind was suddenly filled with instructions on how to pour his healing magic into Munkustrap. '_That_,' she said firmly.  
  
Even as his mind was still reeling from this sudden influx of information, Andromea turned back to Munkustrap and once more put her paws to his temples. The instructions she had given her brother-tom wouldn't cause the transfer of injury to him, but only temporarily drain a small percentage of his vitality. It would not be enough to hurt _him_, she hoped, but enough to keep her safe. This was the most Mistoffelees could do for her, for while he was purer of blood than most Half-bloods - indeed, she had never encountered another cat so close to being a True-blood without actually being one - it was still undeniable that he was just a Half-blood.   
  
Pushing those thoughts away she once more delved into the wounded mind of the silver tom, knowing that time was running dangerously short - for both of them. It wasn't just Munkustrap's physical wounds - although they _were_ horrific - it was the damage to his mind she feared. The main body of mental damage had occurred when he had retreated into the deepest part of his mind and built up defensive walls against the anguish caused by the queen, Demeter, who had scarred him even before her new mate had dared to lay a claw against his flesh. He had no wish and no will to live, so even if his body had have been capable of healing itself, without a mind actively willing it to do so he would have died regardless.   
  
Andromea was troubled. This very situation and her reaction during it was one of the things she could not learn back at the refuge from her the teachings of her mentor. What was the ethical answer in a situation like this? When the tom clearly wanted to die, what gave _her_ the right to remove that privilege of choice from him? Should she just ease out of his mind before she lost herself completely in the search, tear herself away at what could be the last moment and hope that she would survive experiencing him die? Or should she continue and have the faith that if she could bring him back his tribe would be able to keep him whole, keep him alive?  
  
Silently Andromea cursed her inexperience. She was too tired. Questioning like this just served to cloud her already confused mind. She was already irrevocably linked with Munkustrap - in that sense she was committed, and so she would have to see it through to the end.  
  
To whatever end.  
  
'Munkustrap,' she called softly, immersing herself fully in the vast silence of a mind usually teeming with vitality and ideas. The faint echoes in his abandoned mind told her so much about the type of cat he was - but she had to try and block all this extraneous noise out before she could even try to sense where _he_ was. And that was the greatest challenge, to find him before time caught up with her.   
  
Outside the struggle Andromea was engaged in, Mistoffelees once again saw the wounds forming on his sister's flanks. He hated the sight of the blood oozing from wounds to stain her fur, and moved forward to place his paws over Munkustrap's heart as Andra had instructed him to do. _I will help her!_  
  
What happened then was... odd, to say the least.   
  
When Mistoffelees performed his brand of magic most of his spells were directed outwards, such as the tricks he used to entertain the kittens, but this time it was different. All the magic here was directed internally, drawn from whatever source it originated from within him to pour warmly down through his arms, out his paws and into the body of Munkustrap.   
  
He felt a peculiar exhilaration at this feeling of the shifting of his power, draining out of him and leaving him curiously light-headed.   
  
It seemed all too soon that this font of energy ceased flowing, leaving the small tom dizzy and weakened. But he knew it wasn't enough. 'No! I must give more!' he muttered. Once again he placed his paws on Munkustrap's chest, feeling the weak and thready heartbeat under his paws through Munkustrap's strangely fragile ribcage. Once again he focussed the way Andromea had instructed him to yet there was nothing. No surge of energy rose to greet his call as had happened only moments before. No warmth pooled around his paws to be absorbed into the starved body under his pads.   
  
Biting his lip, Misto glanced up at his sister. He could see her arms shaking with exhaustion, her body now completely covered by Munkustrap's wounds, including those horrific, deep gouges Macavity had inflicted with his hind paws across her abdomen. He blinked, darting a glance at Munkustrap.   
  
Not a single bleeding wound marred his coat, the only signs of his fight the pale scars that crisscrossed his body, marking bare spots in his fur. She had done it! Mistoffelees exulted. She had healed him!   
  
'Andra!' he placed his paws on her shoulders, leaning forward to speak into her tufted ear. 'You've done it, sister. You can stop now.'   
  
Her eyes shot open, unnaturally luminescent and glazed. 'Not done yet...' she bit out through clenched teeth. 'Have to... bring him... home...'   
  
Mistoffelees gave her a confused look. 'I don't understand.'   
  
Andromea's eyelids drooped. 'His mind is damaged...' She shuddered as Munkustrap's borrowed pain wracked her body. If she could just last out the pain her own body's rapid healing could deal with it. 'I have to bring him back!'   
  
'Can't you rest?' Mistoffelees pleaded. He didn't like the way she was shaking, her body burning hot to the touch and her arms trembling with total weakness, new blood staining the old.   
  
'If I let go so will he,' she gasped. Suddenly she let out a groan of pain, her body twisting and her head dropping so low that her forehead rested on Munkustrap's chest, right over the place Misto's paws had rested. 'Mind us,' Andromea managed a weak smile. 'Need... total quiet...' even as she spoke her eyes twisted shut against pain as she sank into what appeared to Mistoffelees as to be blessed unconsciousness.   
  
Anxiously Misto watched over his sister-queen, and the Jellicle Protector of his own tribe whom he loved like as if they had both been born from the same womb. It had been a difficult time for Mistoffelees when he had come to the Junkyard with his mother yet Munkustrap, only a considerably older than Mistoffelees himself, had taken the fey little kitten under his wing (figuratively speaking) and mentored him as well as he could. Munkustrap had been a blessing when his mother had died birthing Victoria, the only kit to survive her final litter. She had died of grief so it appeared, wasting away to nothing at the loss of her mate.   
  
Before she went into labour she had apologised profusely to her remaining kit, now an accepted Jellicle, for not being strong enough for him. She had the power of foresight, which is why, Misto assumed now that the healer council had chosen her as the mate for his father. She had seen her own death.   
  
Misto hadn't understood what she meant at first when she told him not to be ashamed of his heritage amongst the Jellicles. Munkustrap had been one of the few cats to know of the fey powers that the new Jellicle kitten hid and it was he who helped Misto realise that these powers were not wrong to use here away from his old home where such things were a natural part of life.   
  
Curiously enough it was Munkustrap's brother, the egotistical Rum Tum Tugger, who forced the wholehearted acceptance of what he could do by all the other Jellicles. At the Jellicle Ball Misto had been called upon to use all his skills and powers possible to rescue Old Deuteronomy, the Jellicle Leader, from the Hidden Paw and it was with great aplomb that he had acquitted himself.   
  
Yes, Munkustrap was to him like the brother-tom he had lost so long ago should have been.   
  
In silence and wringing his paws Mistoffelees watched over the black queen and the silver tom as they lay in a motionless tableau, the only sign of life the faint rise and fall of their breathing. He offered up prayer after prayer to the Everlasting Cat that both would survive this.   
  



	4. Part 4: Too Damaged To Love

**Part Four: Too Damaged To Love**

'Munkustrap?' 

Andromea padded through the silent halls of Munkustrap's mind, completely cut off from the living world. Bitterly she wished she had known the tom before having to make an incursion into his mind, for it was far easier to find someone known in their mind than someone unknown - or so theory led her to believe. She couldn't risk leaving again to ask Mistoffelees about the silver tom because that would be tantamount to murder, the injured cat nowhere near strong enough to survive a third mind invasion.

'Munkustrap? I'm here to help you.'

She padded along a silent street, towering buildings on both sides and cool pavement stretching out in front of her like an endless road. From an alley came the stench of something long dead - a Pollicle, no doubt - and she turned her nose away in disgust. No, she knew he wouldn't hide there - he would be somewhere that spoke to him of happiness in his mind.

'Munkustrap. Tell me of Demeter...'

At the mention of the queen's name there was an almost audible gasp and around her she saw the crazy pattern of cracking glass race through the images of the buildings and cowered as they crashed down around her. A shard of image sliced deeply into her shoulder and she screamed soundlessly, the pain ripping through her weakened body, her claws digging deep into the instantly spongy pavement under her paws. She placed her paws over her head and crouched down on her belly as further images crashed down around her, numerous glass-like fractures cutting into her, each eliciting another silent scream.

'Munkustrap! You're hurting me!'

The broken cityscape was replaced by the Junkyard, unnaturally empty and still. Andromea limped towards Munkustrap's den, scrambling up the incline to push aside the scrap of material when she reached the entrance. She could hear voices inside and crept soundlessly down the small passageway to linger in the darkness, watching the scene unfolding. In the cosy nest were two small kittens, a tom-kit and a queen-kit laughing and playing together with gleeful abandon. One was unmistakably the silver tom whose mind she was in, the other... this must be the young Demeter. The little queen-kit was fluffily black and gold like a baby tiger, her kittenish antics hinting at the beauty she would grow into even as the tom-kit echoed the wise maturity that was his birthright.

From the doorway she heard movement and felt that curiously disturbing sensation of being passed through as a heavy old tom lumbered in. At the sound of the other cat's entrance, the two kittens, still giggling quietly, had wriggled out of the den through a small gap at the back of the lair. Silently still, Andromea crept too from the den.

'Munkustrap?'

The Junkyard seemed to spin dizzily for a moment and as it did, Andromea lost her footing and tumbled down from the precarious outcrop near the entrance to Munkustrap's den. Each impact with the pile of Human refuse sent sharp, lancing pain through her lacerated body. She had known this sort of thing could happen. She had been taught that sometimes when a healer-cat entered the mind of another, the other cat's response could be negative and as a result they would seek the healer's death. 

When the scenery stopped spinning she rose to her feet and looked around dazedly. She was still in the Junkyard, A half-grown cat and a younger, perennially sad-looking kit were huddled nearby in the drainpipe and Andromea felt her heart give a lurch as she realised the youngster was her brother Mistoffelees! In his paws Misto held a rusty tin, the look of concentration on his face almost comical in its sincerity. With the half-grown Munkustrap offering encouragement, Mistoffelees held his breath and reached into the tin to pull out three yards of brightly coloured silk. Munkustrap clapped happily and even Misto managed a genuine smile.

'Munku-' 

She didn't get the chance to finish her words before the Junkyard spun again, and this time, clutching at the bare earth, she managed to stay unscathed.

When the world ceased its spinning she was on the front porch of a house, only a metre or so away from two grown cats. The two Jellicles were undoubtedly Munkustrap and Demeter, nuzzling at each other, the epitome of two cats in love. Andromea heard Demeter's breathless pledge that she had returned to stay with him for all time, and Munkustrap's reply of pure bliss. Her tail lashed in anger and she dug her claws into her paw to stop from acting rashly against the memory of the queen who caused Munkustrap this pain. It was due to tamping down her anger that she missed noting Munkustrap's memory shift until it was almost too late.

With a cry of helplessness, she leapt backwards as the building collapsed in on itself, a block of masonry falling heavily on one of her back paws before thumping heavily against her ribs and driving the breath from her lungs. She lay there, unable to move.

'Munkustrap...' the word was no more than a pained whimper. 'Please, don't kill me.' 

Surrounding her was a strange silvery-greyness void, ahead a patch of greenery. Out of the greyness came a tired voice like the merest breath of wind. '_Then let me die_...'

'I cannot,' she whispered.

'So be it.' The words, as quiet as they were, seemed to Andromea to signal her death knell and suddenly that patch of green was rushing towards her at breakneck speed. All Andromea could do was close her eyes and hope that the end would come quickly.

Yet...

Under her paws she felt the soft dampness of moss, a fresh breeze tickled the grass under her nose, the sighing of the trees shifting in the breeze and the sound of trickling water filling her ears. Still tense, she cracked open one eye, wondering what new terror such a placid scene would hold. When nothing seemed to happen she opened her other eye and raised her head slightly from where she grovelled on the grass.

She had reached his centre of calm.

Seated on a dry water-smooth rock by the burbling small stream in what appeared to be a forest glade was a silver and grey mackerel tabby. He looked at her steadily with sad eyes. 'Why won't you let me die in peace?' he asked her in a mild tone tempered by his grief.

Andromea painfully pushed herself to her feet, but tottered and would have fallen if not for Munkustrap leaping forward to catch her. A look of confusion followed by stunned disbelief raced across the tom's expressive face as he held her out at arms length and studied the wounds that covered her.

Wounds that _he_ had inflicted upon her in this incarnation.

'No! I didn't... I didn't mean... I didn't want to hurt you!' he cried in horror. 'I just wanted you to leave me alone!'

She raised her head and her dull silver gaze met his frightened blue one. 'This is the consequence,' she said weakly and coughed. It was painfully clear to her now why this sort of healing was forbidden to those below the rank of Master. Journey-cats and apprentices simple were not strong enough in their own self to be able to tie their spirit to the mortal realm. She could feel her energy waning and unless this tom did something about it, she _would_ die, regardless of whether her body began to heal the wounds she'd transferred from him to her. Back at the refuge they had all heard stories of healer-cats who had died locked within the mind of the one they were trying to save and none of the stories were pleasant - from either point of view. They were stories told to frighten children, or so she had always thought. But now...

One tom they had heard about had committed suicide because he had thought himself possessed upon hearing the healer-cat's voice in his skull; another had withdrawn completely from society to become a recluse, locked within her skull in companionship with the cat who had died to save her. She had eventually wasted away and died in her obsession to become 'one' with the cat within.

'No! No, I don't believe you!' he exclaimed forcefully, as if he could make it true through denial. 'I could never be the cause of pain to a cat who is good and true. I could never have been the one to hurt you like this. The only cats who feel my wrath are those who-who endanger my tribe!'

Andromea looked steadily at him, before raising and dropping one shoulder in a shrug that plainly said 'what I say is so and no matter how much you protest, you know it too'. His paws were infinitely tender as he held her, his face twisting with the pain of knowing that he, and only he, was responsible for her injuries. 'What can I do, what can I _do_?' he whimpered. 'How can I make you better again?'

'Live,' she said simply.

'But I can't! I can't live without my Demeter! I can't live a life without love and to live without my Demeter is to be forever without love! How can you expect a cat to live so bereft?' He sat her gently down on the rock he had been seated on only moments before and dropped his face into his paws, his muscled shoulders taut from the heartbreak that settled over him.

Andromea looked at Munkustrap, her lip curling in disgust. It wasn't disgust at the poor tom himself, nor at the pain he visibly suffered, but rather at the level he had been brought down to by manipulations of this queen, Demeter. She had seen it happen before. A tom or queen so caught up with the other they were unseeing and unbelieving of the way the other cat manipulated and twisted them into a pitifully dependent shadow of their former self. Although, Andromea had to admit to herself, she had never been as intimately involved as this...

A spasm of pain washed over the healer-cat and she tensed, her claws digging into the pads of her paws in an effort not to cry out. Something had to be done and soon, or it would be impossible for her to separate from the mind of the tom and in his mind she would remain forever.

Her pain didn't go unnoticed by the other cat who reached out to place a gentle paw on her shoulder. 'Is there something I can do _now_?' he asked her.

Andromea shrugged. 'Like I said, you can live...' she said fatalistically, 'and learn to love again.'

'But you _heard_ what I said,' Munkustrap rounded on her furiously, suddenly angry with this queen who dared to invade his sanctuary, who dared to challenge him to live. 'Without Demeter I am _nothing_!'

'That queen did nothing but use you!' Andromea couldn't reign in the scorn in her tone. 'If you think to save such pure emotion for someone completely incapable of returning it to even a tenth of that level then you'll never ever be whole again. She is nothing. You've _got_ to understand that.'

'How can you expect me to just stop loving her?' Munkustrap asked, and his tone was just short of pleading. 'Even if I could, I'm too... too _broken_ to love again. And even if I could, how can I allow myself to love to someone else, thus giving _them_ the power to hurt me the way my Demeter has? No, no I can't do that. I can't risk this sort of hurt happening to me again.'

Andromea sighed. Why did he have to make this so difficult? He claimed to love Demeter, and in his mind she saw that he _did_ love her in his own idealised way, but when would he realise that the queen he purported to love was not the queen he saw her to be?

In the tom's mind Demeter was a queen who could do no wrong - even now after she had cast him off in favour of his much maligned brother-tom he still saw her as some sort of perfect angel. 

'Munkustrap-' she started before stopping with a wince and a gasp, her quicksilver eyes scrunched closed. It was so hard. How could she concentrate through the pain that lapped through her body, each wave of pain that rolled over her leaving her weaker and weaker as her energy ebbed like the tide? Oh, it would be so easy just to give in to the sleep that sought to cocoon her away from this pain! Sleep... oh she was so tired...

The tom wrung his paws in anguish. He could see she was in agony and to know that he was the cause of it... He knelt down on the rock beside her, placing one arm around her shoulders in support as another shudder wracked her slender frame. He didn't know who she was, or where she had came from, or if she was even real outside of his mind, but he had to do something to help her - he couldn't just stand there and watch her die. Shifting her in his arms so that she was cradled against him he reached one paw into the cool stream that flowed by them and dampened his paw. Bathing the bloody wounds on her paws, he saw the full enormity of the wounds that he had unknowingly caused. Gashes, contusions and what appeared to be a crushed hind paw met his inventory and he felt tears prick behind his eyes. He didn't ask for this!

Munkustrap gently nuzzled her swollen and bloodstained face, an action both achingly familiar and yet strangely comfortable to carry out on a queen who was _not_ Demeter.

'Please don't die,' he whispered, just at the moment her chest ceased its laboured rising and falling. 'Hey.' Alarmed, he shook her shoulder gently. When there was no response he shook it harder. 'Hey!' He caught his bottom lip between his teeth, placing his paw against her throat in search of the light butterfly wing flutter of a pulse. 

Nothing.

'No! Dammit, no! Don't be dead! Don't be dead, I won't allow it!' He was furious. At himself for putting this mysterious queen who wanted to help him in danger and at her for dying. He threw back his head and screamed a wordless sound of anger, denial and despair.

'_No_!'


	5. Part 5: Sacrifice and Divine Sanction

A/N: I found another piece on my harddrive that I'd never posted! And yes, she's a Mary Sue. It happens.

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**Part Five: Sacrifice and Divine Sanction**

Mistoffelees shifted uncomfortably in the stuffy confines of Munkustrap's den. It was a comfortable den surely enough, but really only suitable for two full grown cats, not three, even if one of them _was_ on the small side. Besides, where he was stationed half in the doorway, half in the den, it was no wonder the fey Jellicle was feeling discomfort.

But there was no way he could or would leave them alone.

Anxiously he watched the rise and fall of the chests of the two unconscious cats, noting that even as Munkustrap's breathing grew stronger and the colour returned to his nose, Andromea's breathing became even more laboured and raspingly weak. She was failing and fast and once more Misto cursed himself for being so vehement in convincing her to do something that now seemed to him to be beyond even her substantial capabilities.

Mistoffelees fidgeted as he waited for the warm feeling that suffused his paws when he was ready to utilise his magic to assist his sister-queen. 'Come on, come on,' he urged himself silently.

A tear silently leaked from Munkustrap's closed eyes even as he remain firmly in the grip of his unconscious mind, his paws twitching faintly. If Mistoffelees didn't know better, he could have though that the Jellicle Protector was but dreaming.

He saw clearly the moment that Andromea stiffened, her metallic silver eyes flying open, and her body stiffened in agony, her mouth open in a silent scream. She slumped over on her side, her eyes rolling shut. 'Andra-' his startled raised voice was drowned out by the keen of anguish and denial that pierced his eardrums. He cowered, his ears flattened against his skull as he tore his gaze from the still form of his sister-queen to look at Munkustrap.

The silver tabby rose up from his prone position to kneel by the queen. 'No, damn you! Don't you _dare_ be dead!' he raged impotently, his throat bleeding from the intensity of his cry. He coughed convulsively and reached out to take hold of her shoulders in his paws and shake her sharply. 'Breathe, you damn fool! You've been doing it since the day you were born! Breathe!'

'Munkustrap, no!' Mistoffelees, heedless of the fact that the Jellicle was just back from the brink of death shouldered him away from his sister, a move that would never have worked had the other tom been at full strength. Munkustrap fell to his paws and knees with his head hanging, coughing up the blood that filled his throat as Mistoffelees laid his sister-queen down flat. 'Andra, oh Andra-' Misto patted at her frantically in search of some sign of life before sinking back on to his heels in disbelief. 'No...'

Cursing fate and that fickle and betraying queen who had ultimately caused this calamity to happen, Mistoffelees looked down at his paws. Suddenly an idea hit him and he surged forward to place his paws over his sister's still heart. Concentrating in the fashion she had taught him leant no response, and he swore at his unresponsive internal magic. 'Why won't you _work_?' he snarled. 'Heal my sister! Oh, by the Everlasting Cat, _work_!'

Suddenly there was a feeling of warmth in his paws unlike anything he had ever felt before. The warmth rapidly grew into a burning heat that was both incredibly painful and soothing. He felt that some of the power building in him was his own, but something else supplemented his own energy in amounts he couldn't possibly fathom. It seemed to flow in from around him, and he could feel his fur standing on end in like he was full of static energy. And so it came as no surprise when he saw that the paws he had placed over his sister's heart were all aglow.

As he was about to release this pent-up energy into the still form of Andromea, the amount of power concentrated around his paws suddenly doubled, tripled, increased by fifty, even hundred-fold as two luminous paws were placed over his own. What the..?

His head jerked up in surprise to see Munkustrap kneeling on the other side of the healer-cat, his paws resting over Mistoffelees'. What he saw when he looked into the other tom's face caused a soft gasp of surprise to fall from Mistoffelees' lips.

Munkustrap's deep blue eyes stared back at him, but in those eyes there was something else.

Something Mistoffelees had never ever seen before but knew could not be mistaken for anything else.

Something he wouldn't have believed could ever happen if he hadn't seen it with his own two eyes.

It was the Everlasting Cat.

_Munkustrap __was possessed by the Everlasting Cat. _

'Munku-' Mistoffelees felt he should be cowering tightly in a corner at this moment, not staring eye to eye over the body of his dead sister with the most revered Jellicle deity. He whimpered and hunched up as best he could with his paws still firmly ensconced beneath those of Munkustrap/the Everlasting Cat. Mistoffelees closed his eyes, ironically muttering prayers under his breath.

'Heal her, my magical Mistoffelees, beloved little tom,' that eternal, echoing voice was a gentle, soft sigh that soothed his worries away, healed his hurts and calmed his mind. Raising his head, he stared up at the other cat in adoration. A smile lifted the corner of Munkustrap's mouth. 'Make her whole again...'

Misto looked down at Andromea, her body still and calm in the repose of death. 'Andromea,' he whispered her name softly even as he invoked his magic.

With the benevolent form of the Jellicle deity opposite him, he poured all the energy he could grasp with his seeking mind into the empty husk of his sister, filling her lifeless form with all the life energy he could take. The amount of energy he moved from himself and the Everlasting Cat was something that would never happen again in recorded history. The forces, the pressure and intensity involved were something that could never possibly be emulated again without the intervention of the Everlasting Cat or any other feline deity.

As the life force flowed into the body of the healer-cat Mistoffelees saw every one of her wounds vanish as if they had never been, her beautiful fur returning to its former pristine state. She drew in a shuddering breath and her eyes flew open, radiating a shimmering golden light before a rapturous smile curved her mouth.

As suddenly as it had come, the build-up of energy that had filled Mistoffelees seeped out of him and he sagged, tugging his hands free from Munkustrap's to clasp his sister against his chest. 'Andra,' he whispered, rocking her against him.

He raised his head and smiled radiantly and tearfully in thanks to the Everlasting Cat and the incredible gift the deity had bestowed upon the three cats present within the den. The deity nodded once, smiling, and touched both of them on the forehead before the twinkling nimbus of light that filled the lair concentrated around Munkustrap, brightening to blinding, before coalescing disappearing down the corridor into the den and vanishing.

Munkustrap teetered and fell to his knees, reaching out a shaking paw to reverently touch the face of the queen who had sacrificed her life for his own. What he had just undergone was an experience no cat living or dead could relate to, and as would have to be, he could not emerge from the experience unchanged. Physically he had never been healthier, no scar graced his strong, supple body and even the wound that had healed badly on his left flank when he was a kit was healed. He was more than he had ever dreamt of being.

'Mistoffelees,' he whispered softly, 'who is she?' His tone momentarily retained that eternal, echoing quality before fading back into his own familiar voice.

Misto looked up at the tom he considered a brother, his face still creased with that beatific smile. 'She is Andromea, and she is my sister,' he said proudly. He stroked her face. 'I have not seen her for many years...'

The queen stirred in Misto's arms, coughing softly.

'Misto...' she whispered her brother-tom's name. 'Help me up.' She blinked and Mistoffelees was shocked to see that the former quicksilver shade of her eyes had been completely washed away by gold.

With Munkustrap's assistance, he helped the tottery queen to her feet. Andromea smiled at the Jellicle tom, lightly squeezing his forearm. 'Glad you made it,' she teased gently and unaccountably the tom felt himself flush.

Outside there was a sudden commotion, and the three cats stumbled towards the den entrance, pouring out into the fresh morning sunlight onto the ledge outside to witness what had caused such a reaction from the Jellicle tribe. Jellicles had gathered at the foot of the junk heap anxiously staring up at the den after Munkustrap's pained cry. Now as one they all turned to stare spellbound into the sky.

Mouths agape, the three cats in the entrance to the den stared up into the sky along with the other tribe members at the near-blinding white spark of light that descended from the heavens to settle in the centre of the Junkyard.

Glowing like a star, the spark spun on its axis.

Quicker and quicker it spun, spinning like a top that was slightly off centre, a gradually widening spiral that grew bigger and bigger.

Spellbound, the Jellicles watched, unable to move out of the way of the spark and each cat the spark touched or passed through suddenly felt blessed, as if the Everlasting Cat had laid its hand upon his or her forehead and spoke benediction. When the spark reached the apex of its mad dervish, there was a burst of light so bright that the watching cats had to cover their eyes, and when they looked again, the light was gone. Gone, vanished like it had never been, but for the residual feeling of being blessed each cat carried in his or her heart.

'Look! It's Munkustrap!' Victoria's pure voice soared over the babble of noise that followed the blessing. She stood in the centre of the Junkyard, her snow-white fur glowing in the morning sun as she gestured gracefully. One by one, the Jellicles once again raised their faces towards the den.

Still slightly unsteady on his feet, Munkustrap stepped to the edge of the ledge in full sight. A gasped murmur rippled through the cats below, for with their keen eyesight they could see that the tom who stood before them was unmarked, with not even a scar remaining from that terrible fight with Macavity that had seen him rendered a bloody mess. It was Alonzo's mad dash up the heap to his friend that broke the spell surrounding the Jellicles. They rushed to gather at the foot of the heap as Alonzo and Mistoffelees, at the urging of his sister, escorted the tom down the junk heap.

'Munkustrap!' his name was a chant on the lips of the Jellicles as they surrounded him, hugging, kissing, grooming and touching him in disbelieving wonder as he moved amongst them like some kind of ancient saviour returned to life.

Mistoffelees turned back to look up at where his sister-queen lurked unobtrusively in the shadows of the doorway to Munkustrap's den. She gave him an acknowledging wave. He started towards her, but heard her words in his head as clearly as she had been standing beside him, 'Don't you dare!'

As if he too had heard Andromea's words to her brother, Munkustrap turned. And perhaps he did hear her words – after all, they now shared a strange link that went beyond any tie ever felt by any pair of cats before, as imperfect as it was. Gently disengaging from the rest of his tribe and shooing them off, Munkustrap, now as steady on his feet as if nothing untoward had happened, bounded gracefully up to where Andromea lurked. 'Andra?' he used Misto's affectionate nickname for her softly, a smile curving his lips. 'Please come down?' He held out his paw to her.

It was amazing how much a simple smile changed his countenance, Andromea mused. From the oh-so-stern Protector of the Jellicle tribe he seemed to relax and become almost approachable and sweet. He was handsome, she noticed, in a way she had not seen before when he was shrouded by the grief and the piercing longing to die. Sadness still lingered around the edges of his eyes, however, those clever eyes brightened from being the vessel for the Everlasting Cat the way her own had been turned golden as a mark of her own blessing. She wondered what could bring a queen to abandon such a strong and inspiring tom as this. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would treasure the one he loved above his own life – and this is a fact well proved by the events of the last half-day.

Suddenly she realised what she had been doing. As a healer-cat she couldn't afford to look on any tom unsanctioned by the healer council with anything other than clinical detachment, or at the most, distant fondness. Mistoffelees was different – he was her brother – but she knew she would do well to view Munkustrap as the same. After all, she was living proof that the union of a carrier of the Andromea Strain and a fey or a normal could end in naught but the pain of separation, and even _with_ the sanction of the council.

'I don't belong down there,' she said, her voice deliberately cold, ignoring his outstretched paw.

She was mad to have even considered entertaining those thoughts about him anyway – he was a tom hardened against love by Demeter, promising never to fall into its sly trap – he would never let himself see her as anything more than someone who had seen his innermost thoughts, as someone who had managed to invade his own sanctuary in his mind. And someone he now shared an uncomfortably intense bond with.

He drew back as if stung, and dropped his paw. 'Very well,' his voice echoed hers and she instantly regretted the harshness that led to his withdrawal away from her.

'I'm sorry, Munkustrap, it's just – I am not a Jellicle. I'm not like you. You are the Protector of the tribe; you guard their sleep and keep them from harm. You're a Jellicle, and _you_ belong here. I am... an outsider and I should leave now before anyone knows any better.'

He pushed away the pain her words renewed, so much an echo of what Demeter had said to him in their den the previous day. 'Surely you wouldn't leave without saying goodbye to your brother?' he asked incredulously.

'Yes,' the affirmation was steadily spoken. 'It's for the best – how could you explain what happened in your den? You can't. Better just to leave it as a miracle of the Everlasting Cat and a mysterious vanishing queen than explain just who and what I am.'

She stepped out of the den and into the sunlight, and it was then Munkustrap got his first true sight of Andromea, the queen who had challenged death to bring him back. It astounded him – he knew she was talented – but with all that had happened and the broken way he had viewed her in his mind, he never realised just how beautiful she really was. His eyes traced the splash of silver on her muzzle and the fine long hairs of the same shade that tufted her ears, her muscular frame covered by a smooth glossy coat.

'You're beautiful,' he blurted, unable to restrain his response. She just gave him a cynical look, turning away and padding softly along the path that lead deep into the Junkyard and eventually out the other side. 'No, I'm sorry,' he said, hurrying to place a restraining paw on her shoulder. 'I didn't mean... Look, can't you stay with the tribe for a little while – a week or so? Spend some time with Mistoffelees – it's too cruel to just leave him without him seeing you for even a few days. Not after you've been apart for so long...'

Andromea halted and sighed, hanging her head. Trust him to play upon that. Munkustrap was the epitome of responsibility. He would think it her due to spend time with her brother-tm before leaving. What could she do? She loved her little brother dearly and it had pained her to know she would have to leave him so soon after being separated for long years. Munkustrap's proposal was tempting – but was she betraying the ethos of her calling by staying here? And more than that, could she dare stay when her emotions were in danger of being tangled up with those of Munkustrap?

Andromea longed for the wisdom of her teachers to guide her, yet as a journey-cat she knew she had to learn to make these decisions on her own. It was then that she realised her mind was already made up – she would stay a few days with her brother – a week at the absolute outside.

Taking her silence to be refusal, Munkustrap continued, 'Besides,' he said, 'We... okay, to be truthful, I would like you to stay – I'd like to know what sort of a queen would sacrifice herself for a complete stranger.' He stroked his paw lightly down her arm and smiled.

Even though his touch caused a shiver up her spine and his plea warmed her alarmingly, she still nodded slowly. 'I will stay... but when the time is up I _will_ leave.'

Her tone brooked no argument.


End file.
